Effects of Urban Afforestation Activity on Mood, Stress, and Anxiety

Effects of an Urban Afforestation Activity on Mood, Stress, and Anxiety of Adults

This single-group pretest-posttest clinical trial aims to evaluate the effects of a single-session afforestation activity on mood, stress, and anxiety in a sample of adults.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Urban Afforestation Program

Detailed Description

The participants will perform an afforestation activity for a single session of 90 minutes. The therapist will direct the participants' attention to the visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile features of the surrounding environment.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 154
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Spain
  • Andalusia
    • Granada, Andalusia, Spain, 18071
      • University of Granada, Faculty of Health Sciences

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults between 18 and 65 years.
• Any sex and gender.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Intake of any psychotropic medication.
• Other severe or medically unstable diseases that may interfere with participation.
• Severe cognitive impairment (Mini-Mental State Examination score < 17 out of 30 points).
• Severe mental disorders in the acute phase or symptomatic phase.
• Severe intellectual disability.
• Behavioural alterations as this may interfere with their participation.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Urban Afforestation Group; Participants will perform an afforestation activity with a duration of 90 minutes.	Other: Urban Afforestation Program; An afforestation program based on land cultivation and transplantation of several plants for 90 minutes will be implemented.; Other Names: Nature-based activity; Afforestation activity

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Mood	The Spanish adaptation of the 30-item Short Form of the Profile of Mood States will be utilised. There are five questions situated under each mood factor of Anger, Fatigue, Vigour, Friendliness, Tension, and Depressed Mood, which will be rated on a five-point scale starting from 0 indicating "not at all" up to 4 indicating "a lot" to evaluate the current feelings. Higher scores on the vigour and friendliness subscale indicate more positive mood, and higher scores on the remaining subscales indicate more negative mood.	Change from baseline the total mood disturbance after 90 minutes.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
State stress	The perceived stress will be assessed by the 100-mm Visual Analogue Scale, where endpoints are labelled as "None" and "As bad as it could be" from left to right. The scale will yield a single quantitative variable regarded as the state stress score, which is measured by the distance between the far-left end and the participant's mark on the line in millimetres. Lower scores indicate less stress at the moment.	Change from baseline state stress after 90 minutes.
State anxiety	The 100-mm Visual Analogue Scale for state anxiety will be employed. The endpoints of the scale are labelled as "None" and "As bad as it could be" from left to right. The distance in millimetres between the far-left end and the participant's mark will be regarded as the state anxiety score. Lower scores indicate less anxiety at the moment.	Change from baseline state anxiety after 90 minutes.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Universidad de Granada
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: José Manuel PÉREZ-MÁRMOL, PhD, Associate professor

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 25, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 5, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): June 5, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 17, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 17, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): May 20, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 7, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 5, 2022
• Last Verified: June 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Anxiety; Stress; Mental health; Mood; Green spaces; Nature-based activities; Urban afforestation; Horticultural therapy
• Other Study ID Numbers: AfforestMood

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No